Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič with deep sorrow received the shocking news of the plane crash in which his good personal friend and friend of Slovakia, Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski died – along with his wife Maria Kaczynska and other Polish officials, the TASR newswire was told by the Presidents spokesman, Marek Trubač, on April 10.
“In these moments, which are devastated along with the entire Polish nation and the mourning families; we express the deepest condolence to the bereaved and the brother Polish nation,” reads a telegram of condolence that was sent by Gašparovič to Bronislaw Komorowski the head of the Polish parliament who became Poland’s Acting President after Kaczynski's tragic death.
The Speaker of the Slovak Parliament, Pavol Paška, sent a letter of condolence to his Polish counterpart also, TASR was told by Paška's spokesman Jozef Plško.
“I want to express my deep and sincere condolences to all the bereaved and the whole of the Polish nation, said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, adding that it is an unbelievable tragedy. “It is truly very hard to understand for us, since everybody who is active in politics and uses the same means of transportation knows how these trips are secured,” he explained.
President Gašparovič on Saturday ordered Slovakia’s flags to be at half-mast at the top of the Presidential Palace in Bratislava to honour his Polish counterpart Kaczynski. Polish Secretary-General of the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites, Andrzej Przewoznik, who was among the victims of the tragic crash of the airplane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski on Saturday morning, wanted to write a book about smuggling forbidden Christian materials from Poland to Slovakia during Communism, TASR was told by the former Slovak ambassador to Poland, and current Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) MP Magda Vášáryova later that day.
For more info about the crash, please read Slovakia mourning over Polish national tragedy .
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
